Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ:CZR) Will Be Hoping To Turn Its Returns On Capital Around

To find a multi-bagger stock, what are the underlying trends we should look for in a business? Ideally, a business will show two trends; firstly a growing return on capital employed (ROCE) and secondly, an increasing amount of capital employed. Basically this means that a company has profitable initiatives that it can continue to reinvest in, which is a trait of a compounding machine. Having said that, from a first glance at Caesars Entertainment (NASDAQ:CZR) we aren't jumping out of our chairs at how returns are trending, but let's have a deeper look.

What is Return On Capital Employed (ROCE)?

Just to clarify if you're unsure, ROCE is a metric for evaluating how much pre-tax income (in percentage terms) a company earns on the capital invested in its business. The formula for this calculation on Caesars Entertainment is:

Return on Capital Employed = Earnings Before Interest and Tax (EBIT) ÷ (Total Assets - Current Liabilities)

0.052 = US$1.7b ÷ (US$38b - US$5.3b) (Based on the trailing twelve months to December 2021).

Therefore, Caesars Entertainment has an ROCE of 5.2%. Ultimately, that's a low return and it under-performs the Hospitality industry average of 9.5%.

Check out our latest analysis for Caesars Entertainment

Above you can see how the current ROCE for Caesars Entertainment compares to its prior returns on capital, but there's only so much you can tell from the past. If you'd like to see what analysts are forecasting going forward, you should check out our free report for Caesars Entertainment.

So How Is Caesars Entertainment's ROCE Trending?

In terms of Caesars Entertainment's historical ROCE movements, the trend isn't fantastic. Over the last five years, returns on capital have decreased to 5.2% from 8.3% five years ago. Although, given both revenue and the amount of assets employed in the business have increased, it could suggest the company is investing in growth, and the extra capital has led to a short-term reduction in ROCE. If these investments prove successful, this can bode very well for long term stock performance.

Our Take On Caesars Entertainment's ROCE

Even though returns on capital have fallen in the short term, we find it promising that revenue and capital employed have both increased for Caesars Entertainment. And long term investors must be optimistic going forward because the stock has returned a huge 231% to shareholders in the last five years. So while investors seem to be recognizing these promising trends, we would look further into this stock to make sure the other metrics justify the positive view.

On a final note, we've found 2 warning signs for Caesars Entertainment that we think you should be aware of.

While Caesars Entertainment may not currently earn the highest returns, we've compiled a list of companies that currently earn more than 25% return on equity. Check out this free list here.

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This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.